AN UNDERCOVER cop was commended by a Crown Court judge for his bravery after he lived with criminals in the Mold area for more than a year.

As six people were jailed for a total of 24 years and 11 months, the officer, known only by the fictitious name 'Lee', was said by Judge Merfyn Hughes QC to have carried out his duties fearlessly and in the best traditions of police investigations.

'For a considerable period of time, the officer concerned carried out his undercover activities and placed himself in situations of considerable danger,' the judge said.

That was not only danger from those who have been brought to justice but also the perpetrators of the original murder which he was investigating.

'The court wishes to recognise the courage that officer displayed by commending his actions to the chief constable.'

He had to tread a fine line between his duty on the one hand and the danger of entrapment, allegations of which had since been dismissed.

Judge Hughes asked the Crown Prosecution Service to write to the chief constable expressing the court's gratitude and he said the gratitude of the vast majority of the law-abiding members of the public who were appalled at the evil drugs trade.

Mold Crown Court heard how he befriended and gained the confidence of a number of people.

He then recorded them as they boasted about the offences they had committed and also supplied him with illegal drugs including heroin and cocaine, or arranged for him to get supplies.

North Wales Police was authorised to plant the undercover officer to try to gain information over the unsolved murder of postman Paul Savage, who was killed during an early morning delivery round in Mold in February 2003.

The officer 'Lee' was drafted in to try to crack the murder case, which turned out not to be successful. But in the process he was supplied with drugs by a number of people, and his new-found 'friends and associates' also boasted to him about crimes they had committed and provided vital evidence - against themselves.

Richard James Davies, 23, known as Dixie, formerly of High Street in Mold but who now has an address in Badger Avenue, Crewe, was jailed for a total of seven years and three months after he admitted GBH, handling stolen property and supplying cocaine and heroin to the undercover officer, and being concerned in the supply of cocaine.

He admitted jointly supplying the officer with cocaine with Lisa Maria Nicholas, 27, the mother of an eight-year-old daughter who suffers ill-health, of Ffordd Siarl in Leeswood, who also pleaded guilty.

Nicholas was jailed for two-and-a-half years. Her partner Dean William Wyatt, 27 - said to have started using cannabis at the age of 10 - of Ffordd Siarl in Leeswood, admitted cocaine supply offences to the officer and was jailed for four years.

Vernon Gordon Orger, 49, now of the Plas y Wern Bail Hostel in Ruabon but formerly of Ermine Road in Hoole, Chester, admitted supplying cocaine valued at up to £13,000 to 'Lee'. Vernon Orger, who suffers ill-health and has cancer, was jailed for four years and eight months.

His son Karl Vernon Orger, 23, of The Highway, Hawarden, admitted being involved in the supply of class A drugs as an intermediary and burglaries at two shops in Mold.

He was jailed for three years and six months. Aircraft fitter Robert Anderson, 42, known as Pud, formerly of Mold but now of The Highway, Hawarden, admitted supplying cocaine and was jailed for three years.

The judge said drugs offences were serious because of the damage done to those unfortunate enough to be addicted, which included some of the defendants.

Those who became involved in supplying class A drugs 'must expect to be severely punished,' he said.

Judge Hughes told Davies the attack on a man with a brick had been mindless, committed within hours of him being released from prison.

He had boasted to the undercover officer of the thrill he had received, and how he liked to use bricks as weapons.

Prosecutor John Philpotts told how 'Operation Lion' involved the deployment of the undercover police officer in Mold between October 2004 and November 2005.

During the 13 months he gained the trust of the defendants. He first established an association with Karl Orger - who at one stage had to be extradited from Holland - who in turn introduced him to his father, to Davies, and to the others.

In mitigation speeches, defence barristers said that while the work of the undercover officer had to be admired, the drugs offences would not have occurred but for his requests for drugs.